# List of Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterbacks

The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League (NFL). Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League. In 1963, the team moved to Kansas City, Missouri and were renamed the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs have had 56 different quarterbacks attempt a pass, 39 different starting quarterbacks, and 19 different quarterbacks start at least 10 games. Eleven different quarterbacks have been named to either the AFL All-Star team or Pro Bowl for a total of 25 selections. Five of those quarterbacks have been name All-Star or Pro Bowl multiple times. Eleven of the Chiefs starting quarterbacks have led the Chiefs to the playoffs, however, only five have won a playoff game. Patrick Mahomes has been the Chiefs' starting quarterback since 2018. Mahomes has been the full-time starting quarterback since the beginning of the 2018 season, when he broke multiple single season team records and became the first Chiefs player to win MVP. Cotton Davidson was the team's first starting quarterback. He played all 14 games for the Texans in their inaugural 1960 season. Davidson played with the franchise from 1960 to 1962, and was traded in 1963 to the Oakland Raiders. Len Dawson signed with the Chiefs (then known as the Texans) on July 2, 1962 and played for the franchise for 14 seasons. With Dawson as the team's starter, the Texans/Chiefs won three American Football League championships and appeared in two Super Bowl championship games. Dawson was named Most Valuable Player after the Chiefs' victory in Super Bowl IV and retired in 1975 with several franchise records. Three quarterbacks currently in the Pro Football Hall of Fame have started at least one game for Kansas City: Dawson, Joe Montana, and Warren Moon. The most quarterbacks started in one season was five in 1987, however, this was primarily due to the player strike that led to teams using replacement players. The Chiefs have had the same quarterback start every game in a season 15 times. Trent Green started the most consecutive games with 81. Mahomes and Dawson are the only quarterbacks to lead the Chiefs to the Super Bowl, I and IV for Dawson and LIV, LV, LVII, and LVIII for Mahomes, with the Chiefs winning IV, LIV, LVII, and LVIII.

## Starting quarterbacks by season
### Regular-season

The number of games started in the season by each player is listed in small parentheses. Statistics do not include postseason starts.

#### 14 game seasons

| Season | Quarterback(s) |
| Dallas Texans 1960–1962 |||
| 1960 | Cotton Davidson (12) / Hunter Enis (2) |
| 1961 | Cotton Davidson (12) / Randy Duncan (2) |
| 1962 | Len Dawson (14) |
| Kansas City Chiefs 1963–present |||
| 1963 | Len Dawson (13) / Eddie Wilson (1) |
| 1964 | Len Dawson (14) |
| 1965 | Len Dawson (12) / Pete Beathard (2) |
| 1966 | Len Dawson (14) |
| 1967 | Len Dawson (14) |
| 1968 | Len Dawson (13) / Jacky Lee (1) |
| 1969 | Len Dawson (7) / Jacky Lee (1) / Mike Livingston (6) |
| 1970 | Len Dawson (12) / Mike Livingston (2) |
| 1971 | Len Dawson (13) / Mike Livingston (1) |
| 1972 | Len Dawson (12) / Mike Livingston (2) |
| 1973 | Mike Livingston (8) / Len Dawson (6) |
| 1974 | Len Dawson (8) / Mike Livingston (6) |
| 1975 | Mike Livingston (7) / Len Dawson (5) / Tony Adams (2) |
| 1976 | Mike Livingston (14) |
| 1977 | Mike Livingston (11) / Tony Adams (3) |

#### 16 game seasons

| Season | Quarterback(s) |
| 1978 | Mike Livingston (14) / Tony Adams (2) |
| 1979 | Mike Livingston (4) / Steve Fuller (12) |
| 1980 | Steve Fuller (13) / Bill Kenney (3) |
| 1981 | Bill Kenney (13) / Steve Fuller (3) |
| 1982 | Bill Kenney (6) / Steve Fuller (3) |
| 1983 | Bill Kenney (16) |
| 1984 | Todd Blackledge (8) / Bill Kenney (8) |
| 1985 | Bill Kenney (10) / Todd Blackledge (6) |
| 1986 | Todd Blackledge (8) / Bill Kenney (8) |
| 1987 | Bill Kenney (8) / Frank Seurer (2) / Todd Blackledge (2) / Matt Stevens (2) / Doug Hudson (1) |
| 1988 | Bill Kenney (5) / Steve DeBerg (11) |
| 1989 | Steve DeBerg (10) / Ron Jaworski (3) / Steve Pelluer (3) |
| 1990 | Steve DeBerg (16) |
| 1991 | Steve DeBerg (15) / Mark Vlasic (1) |
| 1992 | Dave Krieg (16) |
| 1993 | Joe Montana (11) / Dave Krieg (5) |
| 1994 | Joe Montana (14) / Steve Bono (2) |
| 1995 | Steve Bono (16) |
| 1996 | Steve Bono (13) / Rich Gannon (3) |
| 1997 | Elvis Grbac (10) / Rich Gannon (6) |
| 1998 | Elvis Grbac (6) / Rich Gannon (10) |
| 1999 | Elvis Grbac (16) |
| 2000 | Elvis Grbac (15) / Warren Moon (1) |
| 2001 | Trent Green (16) |
| 2002 | Trent Green (16) |
| 2003 | Trent Green (16) |
| 2004 | Trent Green (16) |
| 2005 | Trent Green (16) |
| 2006 | Trent Green (8) / Damon Huard (8) |
| 2007 | Damon Huard (10) / Brodie Croyle (6) |
| 2008 | Brodie Croyle (3) / Damon Huard (2) / Tyler Thigpen (11) |
| 2009 | Matt Cassel (15) / Brodie Croyle (1) |
| 2010 | Matt Cassel (15) / Brodie Croyle (1) |
| 2011 | Matt Cassel (9) / Tyler Palko (4) / Kyle Orton (3) |
| 2012 | Matt Cassel (8) / Brady Quinn (8) |
| 2013 | Alex Smith (15) / Chase Daniel (1) |
| 2014 | Alex Smith (15) / Chase Daniel (1) |
| 2015 | Alex Smith (16) |
| 2016 | Alex Smith (15) / Nick Foles (1) |
| 2017 | Alex Smith (15) / Patrick Mahomes (1) |
| 2018 | Patrick Mahomes (16) |
| 2019 | Patrick Mahomes (14) / Matt Moore (2) |
| 2020 | Patrick Mahomes (15) / Chad Henne (1) |

#### 17 game seasons

| Season | Quarterback(s) |
| 2021 | Patrick Mahomes (17) |
| 2022 | Patrick Mahomes (17) |
| 2023 | Patrick Mahomes (16) / Blaine Gabbert (1) |
| 2024 | Patrick Mahomes (16) / Carson Wentz (1) |

### Post-season records

| Quarterback | Record |
| Patrick Mahomes | 17–4 |
| Len Dawson | 5–3 |
| Joe Montana | 2–2 |
| Steve DeBerg | 1–2 |
| Alex Smith | 1–4 |
| Todd Blackledge | 0–1 |
| Dave Krieg | 0–1 |
| Steve Bono | 0–1 |
| Elvis Grbac | 0–1 |
| Matt Cassel | 0–1 |
| Trent Green | 0–2 |

### All-Star/Pro Bowl quarterbacks

| Quarterback | No. of selections |
| Len Dawson | 7× |
| Patrick Mahomes | 6× |
| Alex Smith | 3× |
| Cotton Davidson | 2× |
| Trent Green | 2× |
| Steve Bono | 1× |
| Matt Cassel | 1× |
| Elvis Grbac | 1× |
| Bill Kenney | 1× |
| Mike Livingston | 1× |
| Joe Montana | 1× |

## Most games as starting quarterback

Only the top 10 are listed below.
| Rank | Name | Seasons | GS | GP | W | L | T | Pct |
| 1 | Len Dawson | 1962–75 | 158 | 183 | 94 | 56 | 8 | .620 |
| 2 | Patrick Mahomes | 2017–present | 112 | 112 | 89 | 23 | 0 | .795 |
| 3 | Trent Green | 2001–06 | 88 | 88 | 48 | 40 | 0 | .545 |
| 4 | Bill Kenney | 1980–88 | 77 | 106 | 34 | 43 | 0 | .442 |
| 5 | Alex Smith | 2013–17 | 76 | 76 | 50 | 26 | 0 | .658 |
| 6 | Mike Livingston | 1968–79 | 75 | 90 | 30 | 43 | 1 | .412 |
| 7 | Steve DeBerg | 1988-91 | 52 | 57 | 31 | 20 | 1 | .606 |
| 8 | Elvis Grbac | 1997–2000 | 47 | 49 | 26 | 21 | 0 | .553 |
| 8 | Matt Cassel | 2009–12 | 47 | 48 | 19 | 28 | 0 | .404 |
| 10 | Steve Fuller | 1979–82 | 31 | 52 | 13 | 18 | 0 | .419 |
| 10 | Steve Bono | 1994–96 | 31 | 37 | 21 | 10 | 0 | .677 |
As of week 16 of the 2024 season

## Team career passing leaders

Below are the top five quarterbacks in each category throughout their tenure with the Chiefs. Stats are complete through week 17 of the 2024 NFL Season.

### Yards

| Name | Yards |
| Patrick Mahomes | 32,352 |
| Len Dawson | 28,507 |
| Trent Green | 21,459 |
| Alex Smith | 17,608 |
| Bill Kenney | 17,277 |

### Touchdowns

| Name | TDs |
| Patrick Mahomes | 245 |
| Len Dawson | 237 |
| Trent Green | 118 |
| Bill Kenney | 105 |
| Alex Smith | 102 |

### Quarterback rating (minimum 500 attempts)

| Name | Rating |
| Patrick Mahomes | 102.1 |
| Alex Smith | 94.8 |
| Trent Green | 87.3 |
| Joe Montana | 85.0 |
| Damon Huard | 83.3 |